Switch-stand.



No. 885,160. PATENTED APR. 21, 1908. W. c. 'KIDD, SWITCH STAND.

APPLICATION IIHLED D30. 20, 19,07.

I avwentoz :5 h k avin-f z' 2M, zdi'd -ik i UNITED PATENT QFFIQEt WILLIAM CHARLES KIDD, OF SUFFERN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD EQUIPMENT conrmvv, or nAnw'An, NEW JERSEY,

A (ORPOlL-YFION OF NEW JERSEY.

SWITCH-STAND.

Specification of Letters Iate'nt.

Patented April 21, 1908.

Application filed December 20, 1907. Serial No. 407,386.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM CHARLES KIDD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Sulfern, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switch-Stands, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

One object of the present invention is to provide an automatic switch stand which shall be particularly adapted for use in connection with light rails such as are commonly employed in temporary construction work, excavating operations and in mines. For such purposes, the stand is not required to be provided with locking mechanism, or with mechanism to guard against its being tampered with or to make it dillicult to be operated from the track, inasmuch as no high factors of s; fety are necessary in such;

kinds of work though they may be required, for instance, upon passenger railroads.

For ch uses as are s ccilied above, a switch stand should have t \e following elm"- acteristics. In the lust )lil-CO it should be compact, or in other words, should be made to occupy as little space as possible. In mines, for instance, some switch stands could not be employed on account of. lack of s acc. In the present case, besides making t \e stand small and compact, the handle is arranged to move parallel with thc.'rails so that the stand can be conveniently operated where limitations of space would not permit the handle to move in any other way. Another characteristic which such stands should have is 7 case of operation. They should be able to maintain the switch rail in one of its normal positions,but at the same time should be capable of being 0 erated automatically without the use 0 excessive. force, and at all times should be in condition to be instantly thrown by hand. Still another characteristic which these stands should embody is such simplicity of construction as will make them comparatively cheap to manufacture.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of crank arm improved mcansfor securing and adjusting the crank arm upon the lower end of the vertical shaft '01- s nndle through which the throw of the sw tch may be varied.

. reduced to a minimum.

IIeretofore it has been customary to provide a long and massive forging in which the crank arm was threaded and to adjust the throw of the switch by screwing the crank arm back and forth in the forging. .The provision of a long and massive forging was necessaryin order to give the pro per strength, and this involved a considerably more expensive construction than is desirable in stands of the present character.

provided with a shoulder or some other fixed abutment; and to adjust the position of the crank arm upon the vertical shaft, spacing members, such as washers, are employe which may be fitted between the shoulder,

and the spindle on one. side and, upon the other side, between the shaft and a fastening nut which latter is provided upon the end of the crank arm to secure the same firmly in position.

The present switch stand contains all of the above mentioned characteristics and will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which a convenient I and practical embodiment of the same is illustrated.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the improved stand. Fig. 2 is a plan view, and, Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view through the vertical (shaft or spindle.

Accordingl a. new crank arm has been devised wine is The improvedswitch stand is provided as This shaft is journaled in a base I), the lower part of the shaft being rounded for this purusual with a vertical shaft (1 upon the top of wlnch a signal may be secured, as usual.

pose, and the base I) being preferably provided with along journal bearing 0 as shown (F 1g. 1). The extreme lower end of the shaft 1 is formed with an eye in winch the crank lever d, for operative connection with 1 a switch, is secured.

In order that the stand ma be as compact as possible, and to cheapen t 1e manufacture j v of the stand as well, the number of parts required for involved the elimination of all gears, springs the operation thereof have been j This reduction has and other mechanism such as it is common to include within all casings of a switch stand with the result that there is no mechanism whatever within the casing,' and in faotthere is no casing at all unless the base Z3 may possibly be said to inease the vertieal shalt. hfloreover, \QEHIS are generally provided in switeh stands where it is desirable that the operating lever shall move in a vertieal plane: but all gearing has been elin'iinated in the present stand while the movement ol the operating lever is still made to take plaee in a vertical plane, by the provision ol an arm 0 rigidly secured upon the shalt (L and projmt ing througl a slot f in the operatinglever indicated by the eharaeter g. The. arm a is preferably made. rather massive, and is provided with a squared opening whieh tits upon a correspondingly squared portion of the ver tieal shalt, and the slot in the shaltgis preferahlv pear sha 1 as illustrated although the precise lorm o'l this slot is not an essential to the presentinvent-ion.

The operating lever :7 is pivoted to the base near the lower part tl'iereol and is provided with a weighted arm above. the slot. Said arm may be weigl'ited in various ways and preferahl by the provision ot' an :uljustalde weight wlreh can he moved into the. particular position requirtul lor giving to this lever the proper halanee. it will be under stood that this weighted arm serves to hold the switch in its turned position, but PCl'll'lltS the switch to be thrown from its turned position against one rail to its position against the other rail hy the wheel ol a 1 assing car. It will also be understood that this weighted arm assists the operator in throwing the switeh by hand for when it is swung up from its positionnpon one side of the shalt it will more readily drop into its position upon the other side of the shalt on aeeount of its heing Weighted. In order to limit the swing of the arm is lugs 0 are provided upon the base, one on each side of the vertieal shalt, and whieh check the movement of the arm 0 when the. latter reael'ies the limit ol its movement Upon either side.

Referring now to the erank arm upon the lover end of the vertical shalt a, it will be seen that this crank arm dill'ers lrom the usual crank arm'whieh is screwed into the. lower end ol the. vertieal shalt. in the resent; easetho erank arm consists oi a memoer (Z having a projeetion t whieh is inse led through the usual eye upon the extreme lower end .ol the vertieal shalt. An abut.- ment such as a shoulder /t" is formed upon the crank arm (I and limits the extent to whichv the projeetion i can be inserted through the vertical shattl in practice this shoulder and the eye Z, to which the switch rod is attael'ied, are separated lrom each other by such a distanee as to produee, when the shoulder abuts squarely against the vertical shalt, the preelse extent ol. throw in the switch that may. he desired. It is obvious that in ditlerent easesthe extent of the throw desired will vary and in order to adapt'the stand for diilerent throws, one or more spaeing mene bers sueh as washers m are inserted between the shoulder l. and the verl ieal shall. Moreover, when the switel wears out and rouseouentl requires a longer throw in order to ehange it from one ol itslimiling positions to its other limiting: position, the shoulder 7." nutv he adju ted l'urther away lrom the vertieal shalt by the insertion ol one or more washers in between it and the shalt. When the stand is sold, the shoulder Ir and the eye Z will prelerably he so related to eaeh other as to etl'eet the partieular throw of the switch desired with the. shoulder /r abutting against the vertieal shall; and a plurality ol washers are proi ided between the lastening not 1) and the other side ol the. vertieal shalt lor use as spacing members in ell'eeting the subsequent adjustment of the crank arm to change the extent of the throw when lor any reason it may be desirable so to do.

v -'ations may obviousl be made in the eonstruetiou ol' the swite-h stand to change its form eonsiderahly lrom.that shown in the drawings, without departing lrom the spirit ol the invention, and the improvements may obviously be embodied in a great variety ol switeh stands and in switeh stands whieli are intend d lor use upon passenger roads as well as upon roads whieh are. huilt lor tempmary purposes such as in ('(HlSllUttlOll work and mining. .ldoremer, as will readily appear, the improved lorm ot' erank arm is not neeessarily limited to embodiment in a switch ol the character deseribed herein and the in- \-'ention,.so lar as i relates to sueh crank arm, is not limited in this respect.

l eiaim as my invention:

1. in a switch stand, the eombination of a vertieal shalt adapted to he operatively eonneeted with a. switeh, an arm projeeting tlwrelrom, and an operating lever having a slot through which the arm extends. I

2. in a. switch stand, the combination ol a vertical shalt adapted to be oporativelv eonneeted with a switeh, an arm rigidly secured to the shalt and projeeting therelrom, and an operating lever having a weighted arm and a. slot through which the arni upon the shalt extend V I). in a .-i\ eh stand, the combination ol a vertieal shalt, means upon the bottom ol the shaft for operative eonneetitm with a switeh, an arm projecting from the shaft. above said through which said arm extends.

vertical shalt, a base through which said shalt extends, an arm projeeting lrom the shalt above the base, and an operating lever pivoted to the lower part of the base and having a slot through which said arm extends.

5. in a switch stand, the oomhiuati on ot' vertieal shalt, a hose in whieh said shalt is journaled. means upon the shalt and below the base for operative connection with a.

means, and an operating lever having" a slot +1. in a switch stand, the eon'ibination ol' a.

semen switch, an arm projecting'from the shaft above the base, and an operating lever having a slot through whichthe arm extends.

. 6. In a switch stand, the. combination of a ating lever pivoted near the-lower part of the base and having a slot through which said arm extends. 7. In a switch stand, the comblnation of a vertical shaft, a base in which said shaft is jecting in a journaled, means upon the lower end of the" shaft and below the base for operative connection with a switch, an arm from said shaft above the base, an an operatin lever pivoted near the lower part of the Imse ,and having a weighted'arm and a slot through which the arm upon the shaft extends. 8. In a switch stand, the-combination'ofa' base, a vertical shaft journaled in the "base, an arm rigidl secured to the shaft and proorizon-taL direction therefrom, lugs upon the base to limit'themovement of the arm, and means'to move the arm. 1

9. In a switch stand, the combination of a base, a vertical shaft an arm rigidly secured to the shaft and r0- 'ecting therefrom in ahorizontal direction,

lugs upon the base to limit the movement of.

the arm, and an operating lever pivoted to vertical spindle anopelfabil g lever adapted to move in a vertical plane and having a slot therein, and a member projecting from the spindle and extending through the slot in the operating lever.- A

1 1. In a switgh s,tanr'l,-tl 1e combination'of a vertical spindle, a horizontal member projecting from the spindle, and an operating an arm projectingi projecting arm and spacin journaled in the base,

cure the crank arm to the the base and having a slot thro ugh .the arm extends.

10. In a switch stand, the combination of-a -between-the-shouldel -andthe sl lever pivoted toswing a'verticalplane and having 'a slot throughwhich the horizontally projecting member extends. I

' 12; In a switch stand, the combination a with a base, a vertical shaft journaledtherein, means underneath the base upon the vertical shaft for operative connection with a switch,... a horizontally projecting member above the base, and an operating lever pivoted-n'ear the lower art of the base and having aslot throu h w 'ch the horizpntall-y projecti g mem er extends.

13. In a switch stand, acrank arm for operative connection with a switch, said crank arm having an abutment, means 'to fasten said arm in position, and spacing members for adjustingthe position ofsaid arm. I

14. In a switch stand, the combination of V acrank arm, means towhiohfthe crankarm is secured, means to secure the crank arm to said means, an abutment upon the crank tion of the oran arm.

15. In a switchstand, the combination of a vertical shaft, a crank arm for operative connection with a-switch, a shoulder upon the crank arm, a nut to -secure the arm in position, and washers to adjust the position of the arm.

16. In a switch stand, the combination of a vertical shaft having an eye near the bottom thereof, a crank arm extending through .theneyeiand.having a shoulder, a nut to seshaft, and washers side and between the nut and the shaft upon the other side for adjusting the position of the crank arm.

This specification signed and witnessed this 30 day. of November, D. 1907.

WILLIAM cnainns xmn.

Signed iii the presence of- SCHUYLER (J. FEW, JEAN S. MACGREGOR.

members to adjust the posi- 

